Stardust Global Ventures

As many of you know, Ken and I have promoted ourselves as a hyper-connected couple. Many of you know what that means because you’ve seen it in action. Some of you may guess at what it means, and some of you can’t fathom it.

This morning, while on a Squawkbox call, aka calliflower, one of the off-topics after the show was about how people use skype. Jim Courtney mentioned a man he knows who was very homesick, missing his wife while on a business trip, and what he and his wife did was set up a skype video call while he was gone, and that way they slept together even though they were apart.

I can share with you that Ken and I have not done that, yet, largely, I suppose, because we have yet to spend a night apart. However, should the time arise and that occur, chances are pretty good we would do the same. We’ve certainly done other things that many of our friends find excessive.

On another calliflower call, yesterday, Alec Saunders asked what we all felt the future of video is, really asking if we think there is a future. This made me think about video and my perspective.

A few years ago I couldn’t have imagined being so comfortable with video. For many people in my life that would still be the case. Most of those people don’t live their lives as publicly as I do. Of course when I say publicly I mean that I put video online, am constantly being photographed and having pictures of me posted somewhere, but also because I join conference calls and video calls where any number of people I don’t know may watch.

Besides that I guess my thoughts on video are due to the fairly large segment of internet users who regularly use or watch internet video. That is something that has changed over time.

At lunch today, Ken and I had a discussion about this which really goes back to when audio technology was first being used in a mainstream way. Back then, people used tools like freetel where if you had a fast enough connection and a computer capable of handling it, you were lucky to get half duplex, or rather cb radio type connectivity where only one person at a time could talk, holding the spacebar down to speak and releasing it for your second caller to have a turn. Shortly there after full duplex came out and the world has never looked back.

As audio services advanced, group calls became possible. With that, the next obvious evolution was video. Users demanded it.

The interesting thing with video is that in my experience, the driving force of many of these technologies are porn makers and users. I have many ideas about that, but it’s pretty clear they were the beginning instigaters and that’s born out by the millions of people who simply clicked what they thought an honest link only to get a porn popup inviting, and then later, forcing them to go to a site they didn’t intend visiting.

Now video has reached a stage where the early adopters are starting to wonder how to use it for business purposes. Not just as a toy few have the ability to use, but as an actual tool that helps business and telecommuting a reality that actually works.

Examples of video in telecommuting start from a friend of mine, Peter Csathy, CEO of SightSpeed. I interviewed Peter a year ago, and one of the first things I learned is that he is a telecommuter. Peter lives in San Diego but SightSpeed offices are located in Berkeley.

One of the things Peter shared with me, and I have stated this a few times because I find it to be a very profound idea, is that telecommuting, and really business of all kinds, begins with a trust factor. In business, in relationships, trust is huge! Now, you can have trust without visual communications because to say otherwise would mean the blind population could never trust, and I’m not going there! It takes longer to establish, but it is possible.

When you are trying to establish yourself a a viable commodity, you need to come across as trustworthy. That is much easier to guage when you can see the person, view the body language we all take so for granted, and have a face to face conversation with someone. Video conferencing makes that possible without actually physically being in the same space. Especially today with more bandwidth and faster connections. It’s not the jerky motion from the earlier days of video.

I believe video will truly impact our lives in ways we have yet to consider. I also think the naysayers of today will fairly quickly become so used to it they won’t know how they did life before video.

Let’s face it, who of us hasn’t had a video call of some sort? I use it regularly. I talk to my family, I talk to friends, we share from long distances changes in each others lives. It’s truly a ground breaker.

Another thought I have with regard to video is that as we stop heading out the door to work, socializing with our coworkers, we are going to need ways to connect with each other since we’ll spend less time together physically. Video makes it possible for us to still have the contact with others that the humans crave. Human beings seek comfort from other humans. It’s the way we’re designed. It’s our nature to socialize and commune together. Segregation is not our way. Video really will help as our culture makes the changes it is clearly going to make.

I know many people will scoff at, or disagree with my thoughts. I for one am excited about the changes that are happening. Will they all be good? Probably not. They never have been. TV is an example of that. Video is the bridge to help us stay connected and all it takes is a little familiarizing for us to understand it’s not like being on TV. It’s more like sharing the same space. We used to visit in the same room. This will make it so we still are.

And just so you think I didn’t go off on a tangent, forgetting to share how Ken and I are connected, today is a prime example of what we value about technology. Ken went to work with his Nokia N800 and I stayed home with mine. As he pulled out of the driveway I called him on my BlackBerry curve. We both had our jawbones on our ear and we talked as he made his way to his office.

Once he arrived at work, Ken took his N800 out and turned it on, I turned mine on and we opened the camera and started a gtalk call. Gtalk on the Nokia tablets is unique. it has a video function. We kept that call up off and on, as wifi connectivity allowed, throughout the day. We also had our computers on, connected with various internet applications, sending email and talking as we both went about our day. The great thing about using these tools is the video! We get to see and share the aspects of the day with each other. I can no longer imagine life without them.

For those of you skeptics, GET OVER IT! It’s day that’s not long in coming. You can either complain and squawk about how the world is changing and you’ll never use things like that, or you can accept that you already are, everytime you use an atm or a computer to pay a bill, even signing a receipt at a store that just took your debit card/credit card. It is coming, it is here, and Video is in line to really blow your mind.

Ken posed the question in his post as to whether or not ringtones have value in or out of a business setting. My thoughts are probably not nearly as detailed as Ken’s but I do have thoughts about it.

First, playing devil’s advocate, let me say that there is a segment of business that requires you to answer a phone, being on call etc. A good case in point was when Ken worked for the State. His department implemented the necessity of answering a call during emergency or on call status. What happened after that was people putting that range of numbers to have a ring, still setting all others to vibrate etc. So for business, especially in an on call situation, one can see how there may actually be a use for a ringtone specific to an emergency situation.

As for other situations, I can see I probably don’t have a great enough imagination to come up with why there may be valid reasons to use ringtones. I only know that a wide range of people clearly see them as important.

On a personal note, I guess I can see as important a time when if you have a child with special needs, a caregiver or school official should have easy access to you. If, as Ken suggests, everyone is on vibrate or silent, that would seriously impede the ability of such a person to reach you in a time of emergency. Again, that is one time it may be important enough to have a specific ringtone to notify you there is an emergency.

For the rest, unless someone can give me a reason I have not thought of, I see no purpose other than distraction or to announce, “Hey, listen to how cool I am for my really neat ringtone.” That can’t be discounted because a huge number of people equate ringtones with status. This is a sentiment that eludes me.

In my world, not unlike what Ken pointed out, I am on a number of calls that should not be interrupted by silly ringtones. I think in most cases this holds true.

When I am in a theater, sitting in a nice restaurant, or even in the local market, I have no interest in someone announcing they are recieving a call from someone I will forever associate with the Nutcracker or Sugar Plum Faerie. It seems quite ludicrous to me. I will clearly be annoyed enough simply by being forced to hear the conversation as people tend to speak too loudly on a mobile device anyway. But I’ll save that rant for another post.

I don’t know if this answered your question, Ken, but it seems to me there are some valid reasons to have a ringtone. The problem is that many people use them just because, with no thought or rationale behind it other than to point to themselves as being rather distinct for having done exactly what the vast majority of the population does. Interesting conundrum, wouldn’t you say?

I posted this on the Realtime Unified Communications Community earlier, but thinking about it, I’m reposting a variation here because you’re largely different set of readers who come here.

I know I’m often very opinionated. Bullheaded or pigheaded Sheryl might say; and she’d be right. And I’m probably too free with those opinions. Ok, Sheryl would say bucketmouth, and she’d be right there too. But here’s something that’s been on my mind of late.

Anyone who has followed us much knows that I have a lot of connections, close and not so close friends, all throughout the telecom industry. I’ve spent 30 years in that industry, but also been active as a writer and analyst in that space for quite a while. These friends work for a range of companies very large enterprises, legacy telcos and new breed carriers to small startup companies and innovators across the really broad universe of technology. And while they’re greatly focused on unified communications, they aren’t all. Some are simply contacts in other industries with whom I share common interests. And some are simply new friends Sheryl and I have made as we delve deeper and deeper into communications and social media.

I’ve been doing a very informal survey of co-workers, friends and colleagues for a while now. And the topic in question is mostly observable without even asking a question if you spend much time around people. I’ve been paying close attention to their mobile phone habits. And there’s one that is just a huge question mark for me - what do you do about ringtones? Do you use them? Do you care? Would you bother?

Ringtones represent an industry that’s pretty big. There’s a lot of money made selling ringtones cheap. When I see the numbers that little segment brings it, it’s truly mind-boggling. Yet in my universe, they not only don’t have a place, they’re downright inappropriate.

I’ve carried multiple cell phones for a long time - for years. And the only ringtones I use are silent and vibrate. Occasionally in the car I used to turn on a ringer, but with a bluetooth headset, and handsfree laws in many places today, even that’s just pointless.

I spend innumerable hours in meetings and on conference calls. Every person I know in business does. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a small business or large one. Sheryl’s on conference calls and the like all day long some days. Interacting with people at every turn is what we do. In our business world, it’s widely accepted and assumed that common courtesy dictates phones be set to vibrate or on silent. And they’re set that way all the time, not just during meetings.

Sheryl and I chuckle on those rare occasions when we go to a movie and the “please silence you cell phone” screen comes up. Why would our cell phones not be quietly in vibrate mode in the first place?

Is it simply a matter of manners that some of us don’t inflict our choice of ringtone song of the day on those around us? I know ringtones are quite popular with younger generations, but I don’t think it’s a generational thing either. I know plenty of young people who have no interest in or use for ringtones. They’re as interested in discretion and privacy as the most jaded baby boomers in business.

Today we get not just audio ringtones, but depending on your phone, video as an option too. And what cell phone doesn’t have an address book that lets you associate a picture with the caller?

Sheryl and I talk on the phone a lot. A lot. I think I’ll write a piece soon detailing a bit more about that. I’m working up a case study of us for an article now. I know at a glance it’s her because her picture pops on the screen. It’s a simple phone feature. But do I need Stardust (our theme song) intruding in a meeting or when I’m in the men’s room? Or a video of her gorgeous face saying “hi baby, it’s me. Answer the phone.”

I don’t write about the ringtone companies I know of on any of the places I write. Not even the ones that are ventures of friends because I see it as a pointless dying business segment with absolutely no future. I find ringtones a huge nuisance, and I think it’s incredibly rude to inflict my taste in music on others. I don’t like it when you make me listen to your favorite song any more than I want to listen to you argue with your girlfriend at the table next two me while Sheryl and I are enjoying a nice dinner.

I’d really like to hear your thoughts on ringtones. Agree or disagree? Say so. Think I’m missing the boat? Show me the light. Please feel free to comment. Sheryl, you weigh in too baby. I want to know what you think and I’ll forget to ask. hehehe

Technorati Tags: ringtones, mobility, cell phones

I’ve been blogging for a very long time now, I guess. I started writing on blogs in 2000. Much of that time and energy has been about technology related topics. And over the course of those years, I’ve worked with a lot of different people in the public relations world. Some I count as good friends, and some are just passing spammers who blast me with email press releases.

Neil Vineberg is one I count as a personal friend. We’ve met in real life, talk on the phone regularly, and are friends in a number of online centers of interest. He’s an incredibly smart guy, gifted musician, and someone to whom I listen.

Neil dropped me a note this morning about the blog post he wrote. I’m taking the liberty of reposting the entire post before I comment. I think it’s one of the more worthwhile reads on this topic that I’ve seen in quite some time. It’s also a subject that Neil and I have talked about several times.

Which is Worse: Poor PR Execution or a Corrupt Blogosphere?
Here is my response to Michael Arrington’s piece in TechCrunch titled The PR Roadblock on the Road to Blissful Blogging.

I happen to be one of the busy PR guys who passes on most of my prospects because the model is weak, the folks running the company are young, or I think the offering has little chance of winning. When I do engage, our clients generally do well and success, historically, can include a financial event.

PR is transitioning from the pitch to a conversation. And just about everyone in a startup has a role to play in getting the word out. Whether you need PR counsel or not on day 1 depends on how skillful you are as a communicator and marketer, how PR is intended to drive your business metrics, and whether or not you want to dedicate your valuable time and resources to managing outbound and inbound media relationships. Personally, I’m all about building the companies I represent and I’m often vested in them, so I prefer the proactive PR role.

I disagree entirely with the notion that a startup should wait to hire PR help until media/bloggers start calling you. When you’re ready to fly, get some help from PR counsel who adds intelligence, experience and strategic insight to your game.

Now lets turn the conversation around to tech bloggers who write about every company that knocks on their door, who read the PR lingo and conduct zero due diligence on the viability of the business model, and then shoot out a story. The strength of community is that people talk. The weakness is that some stories appear based on personal friendships, rather than real reporting. When bloggers float stories because someone is your friend, we’re all screwed. When bloggers dedicate editorial to sponsors without indicating it’s a paid placement, we’re uninformed. And when bloggers are vested in companies being reporting on, we’re in deep trouble. Because then the blogosphere becomes corrupt and that is worse than poor PR execution.

I’d love to see intelligence prevail and this conversation is a good start. In the end, it’s business and we’re all in this together for the kinds of shared successes that make for more fun, productive lives.

While I certainly know of Michael Arrington and Techcrunch, I confess I rarely read it. It’s simply not my cup of tea. Arriington and I disagree on many topics and I find his viewpoint to often be wildly out of touch with reality other than for the few inside his personal circle. We run in different circles, so that’s not intended as a criticism. We simply don’t resonate very often. That said, I had to click the link in Neil’s post to see what it was he’s responding to. My reaction and comments are to what Neil said, not Arrington.

First, I’m going to support what Neil said about himself and add to it. He’s one of the sharpest and most polished PR pros I have ever worked with. He’s a pleasure to work with and a valuable asset to any company he engages. He has stringent criteria for accepting clients, and he doesn’t waste their time any more than he lets them waste his. I highly respect Neils ethics.

I agree that PR is transitioning from a pitch to a conversation. I’d lean toward saying it already has. Sure, I get pitched all the time. I mostly ignore pitches, but engage in conversations. For me personally, it’s about relationships.

Neil’s points about tech bloggers hit close to home. I am one and many of my friends are. But rather than being defensive, I have to agree with him. There’s a real danger for bloggers of being sucked into the idea of gaining fame and fortune (or karma, whuffie, or whatever you choose to call it) through our connections. Tech bloggers are a very symbiotic group. Sometimes we help each other. Sometimes we’re an echo chamber saying the same thing over and over. It’s a double-edged sword to be sure.

As one of the early bloggers, I recall countless conversations about honesty, integrity and what we came to call authentic voice in blogging. It’s easy to write and be yourself for some of us. For others, it’s harder. The influence of our friends, (yes we become friends with may of the tech sector people we encounter) can sway us to be overly kind, and sometimes downright gushy about things we might otherwise view with a healthy dose of skepticism.

I know this is a trap I fall into on occasion. But I also know that I will avoid simply gushing over something I don’t believe. If I come out on here as strongly supporting, in favor of, or impressed by something, it’s not because it’s a friend or I’m being paid. It’s because I believe it. And sometimes I’ll ask hard questions, of those people who are friends as well as those I don’t really know. And many times, I’ll say nothing.

It’s a safe bet, if there’s a company you’re seeing lots of hype about and I don’t mention it, that I’ve either not found it compelling, or I have unanswered questions and am simply saying nothing. Sometimes, saying nothing says a lot.

Neil is absolutely on the mark in saying that when bloggers are being paid to write about something, they should openly say so. I firmly believe in full disclosure. My writing as the resident editor on the Realtime Unified Communications Community is well known and documented as being paid. It’s paid by the publisher, not by any sponsor. In fact, for the past two years, the publisher has been sponsoring the community without funding from an outside company. When I write papers for a paid client, I openly share that. I think disclosure and authenticity are important.

I realize this post is a bit off the normal path, but I read a lot of blogs and find the ones that resonate with me most are the ones I deem authentic. There’s a lot of brouhaha going around for a long time now about mainstream media and journalists vs. bloggers. I don’t claim to be a journalist. While I do personally adhere to some journalistic principles. I think we’re very different in many ways too.

Apparently today is a day for a little self examination.

Added - For another great post on the subject, see John Furrier’s Yes PR is Changing - Get Used to It - It’s About Dialog + Collaboration = Transactions

Technorati Tags: technology blogging, public relations, PR, full disclosure, authentic voice

Todays Podcast with R.G. Ryan was a deviation of sorts. While I have interviewed authors before, never one as diverse in his art or abilities.

R.G.’s bio on his various blogsites sums him up quite nicely I think.

The name is Ron, but you may address me by my Aristocratic title, “Lord Ronald the Mellifluous of Giggleswick under Table.”

I like to think of myself as being six feet tall, but I know I’m closer to five-eleven. I write novels, screenplays and music; I am a record producer as well as a recording artist.

At present I am living with my first wife in Las Vegas, Nevada. We have two kids whom we like quite a lot, most of the time, and two grandkids whom we like all the time.

I am a proponent of sentence fragments, truncation and non sequiturs and practice the abominations whenever possible so as to confound and frustrate grammar freaks.

Hearts In Atlantis may be the best book ever written and Casablanca is, without question the best screenplay ever written. Every good story should have a beginning, a middle and an ending, but not necessarily in that order. Where are my glasses?

Snapshots at St. Arbuck’s

Those of you who pay any attention at all know that the last couple of months have been beyond chaotic for us. We’ve moved three times and driven way over 5000 miles in our various trips and travels. When you add in all the packing, unpacking, repacking and trying to settle into our new home, it’s been positively exhausting.

On top of the life changes, there’s been plenty of work. We’ve done endless conference calls, podcast programs, video, written plenty of articles and papers, and Ken’s been settling into a new job since we moved to Spokane too.

Now we’re going to do something for ourselves for a bit.

For the next fewtwo weekends, we’re going to escape and play. This weekend we’re heading down to Milton-Freewater, OR to visit one of Sheryl’s best friends. Then we’ll pick up David in WallaWall and head back home.

The following weekend we’ll hang out around home, but we’re going to find something fun to do with David. Maybe we’ll go hang out at Riverfront Park and watch people.

The weekend after that David’s pal Greg will be down for some vacation time, and we’re taking the boys to Lake Couer d’Alene. Since they are teenage boys, they’ll doubtless ditch us at every opportunity and go searching for girls. It is, after all, what boys that age do.

We’re looking forward to relaxing, splashing in the lake, reading, painting, sketching, taking lots of pictures and generally enjoying life together for a couple of nice summertime weekends.

Technorati Tags: taking time, enjoying life, vacation, 5th wheel, summertime

One of the things we talk about often is people finding their passion and reaching for the stars. It’s one of the things that really excites and drives us. Our energy level is so much higher when we’re excited and driven but whatever project we’re working on.

When we’re excited and passionate about what we’re doing, the day flies by, we get tons accomplished, and we feel good at the end of the day. The happier we are in our work, the better we feel about the world.

Meet Billy Clean, aka” Ziggy Dust.” He’s a street cleaner with Hounslow council in London, and arguably the happiest man in Chiswick.

When the last time you danced in your chari with that much pleasure in your job?
Technorati Tags: finding your passion, reach for the stars, passion

This morning as I was deleting the garbage reading the slew of news releases I get each day, a couple of thoughts occurred to me.

First I know that because we attend industry conferences as press, and because of the topics we write about, we wind up on press distribution lists that don’t apply. So we get email announcements about topics we’ve never written about or expressed any interest in. That’s expected up to a point, but it amazes me that some PR firms never cull their lists to eliminate people who aren’t interested. There are a couple of PR firms who send me their news even though I’ve never written or mentioned anything they’ve sent and never responded in email. The only contact ever has been their spam news in my inbox. I have some of these folks who I’ve been receiving junk from for years now, and most of them are auto-filtered to my junk mail.

There’s one firm in particular, who I won’t mention by name (ok, maybe later I’ll blast them in public for stupidity, but not this morning) who makes me laugh. They’re in the broad industry of what we’d call unified communications. It’s a topic I write about daily. I have actually written about the company one time, but in a most unflattering way. I pretty much called them me too copycats without vision or business plan. I may have said in that post they were a company I wouldn’t bother writing about again.

Since that time, I get one or more news releases every week from their PR firm that’s worded as if we’re the best of friends. They always close with “may I call you to discuss in more detail?”

Let me clarify something. If I never wrote about your company, or wrote something that was negative, then never acknowledged your existence again, I probably don’t want to hear what you’re doing. It’s unlikely I will ever write about you unless someone I really respect says something nice first. And we’re not friends. I don’t want to talk to you on the phone about the pure crap snake oil smoke and mirrors innovative technology you’re foisting on unsuspecting victims delivering to the market.

How a PR firm approaches a blogger and industry analyst matters. And in many cases what begins as a negative view can be turned around simply by how you handle contacting us. But if you demonstrate cluetardedness by continually spamming, you do a great disservice to your clients. it’s important to remember as a client of PR firms in general that the firms representing you is just as much your company image as your CEO. And they can leave you in a bad light if they do their job poorly.

Don’t let your PR firm tarnish your image.

Yesterday we sent an article off to our publisher as part of a series we’ve been doing. In that piece, I touched on the power of networks. While I don’t always say it well, in many ways I believe the networks we form of family, friends and colleagues are the single most powerful tool we possess.

Chris Brogan had a great post on the topic this morning.

The Vital Importance of Your Network

July 23, 2008

Back in June, I wrote about whether companies will value your personal network.
It’s a topic I think about constantly because I’ve seen time and time
again the value of my own network. I use some amount of that value
every day. And I spend a portion of each day threading the social needle.

Two great posts over the last few days show me that it’s not just me thinking about this. Tim Sanders says we should refresh our network often, and Jeremiah Owyang reports on the the risks and opportunities
inherent in your network. It’s all pointing towards the same thing:
you’ve got to think consciously about how you use social networks, and
you have to build relationships that are decoupled from goals.

[Read Chris' full post]

The power of our networks rings true across so many facets of our life. Yesterday, as we talked about a friend of ours, another friend, David Beckemeyer posted a simple Twitter message “Need help locating my missing 92 Yr old Aunt” with a URL enclosed that links to this post on his blog -

Need help locating my missing 92 Yr old Aunt

RILEY, MARGARET/ 92 YOA / DOB 11/30/1915
Missing from her Regina Way address in Grants Pass, OR. since 7/12/08.
Margaret lives alone, she is considered an endangered missing person.
ANY INFORMATION ON MARGARET RILEY’S
WHEREABOUTS
PLEASE NOTIFY,
GRANTS PASS DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY
AT (541) 474-6370.
WFA, 5’03 HT, 145 LBS, GRY, BLUE

Official missing person’s report here: http://www.bdt.com/MISSING-PERSONS-FLYER-RILEY.pdf

The car is gray (silver/gray) (I don’t know why the flyer says “tan or blue”)

I’ve known David for a long time, and this heartwrenching post drove me to immediately share it across all my social networks. It’s an example of how we can all pull together to share important news. It isn’t always good news. It isn’t always bad news. But the power of our network is the power of the human collective.

For several months I’ve tried to start each day with a simple reminder to myself to do something good and nice for someone each day. With the power of our networks and the people we interact with, it’s easier than we often realize. Even through light contact online, we touch many people each day.

Let’s be nice to each other today. And let’s find David’s aunt too.

When we first began our collaborative work, we saw the idea of Internet radio and a talk show program as one of the things we knew we’d enjoy most. We both love to talk, and we love talking to each other, but we’re also interested in a huge variety of different subjects.

Last night we hosted our new Internet radio talk show, Stardust Radio. This radio program is truly planned to be a broad forum to discuss a wide variety of topics. In fact, we’ve posted a poll in our sidebar to ask your votes on what sorts of topics you’d most like to hear.

To encourage you to participate, here’s our current poll -

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Being the impatient souls we are, we also decided we need to move forward. The other day, Sheryl raised the question Unified Communications: Is Business interested? and Ken jumped on board with Unified Communications - Dispelling the Myths

Because of our close involvement with this industry, it’s a sure bet that technology and communications tools will be the subject from time to time. When it is, I’ll cross post the shows here for ease of access. Last night’s show was focused on dispelling some of the myths surrounding Unified Communications. Together, we decided it was a compelling enough topic to drive a radio talk show conversation.

Joining us in the conversation last night were Jonathan Hollander from Phone Fusion, Robert Wolpov from Junction Networks, Randy Busch from Jazinga and our good friend Jim Courtney, an analyst who writes extensively about this industry on Skype Journal.

One of the most interesting conclusions we may have reached is the agreement that unified communications simply isn’t a product you can buy. It’s an industry and describes the evolution of communications technologies to converged networks and tools. One of the participants said during the show that if you ask 100 customers what unified communications means, you’ll get 200 answers.

Here’s the content from our show last night. We hope you enjoy it. And we hope you’ll come join us on a regular basis both on the phone and on the web.

Technorati Tags: podcast, Internet radio, Sheryl Breuker, Ken Camp, unified communications, Stardust Radio

The other day I wrote a post entitled Unified Communications - Dispelling the Myths on the Realtime Community site.

Tonight we’ll be airing an episode of our new live, call-in Internet Radio show to talk about the topic of unified communications.

Stardust Radio

Sheryl and Ken

Sheryl & Ken’s regular radio talk show.

I’ve extended a number invitations to some industry watchers, people I mention here all the time. I’ve also invited a number of solution providers in the unified communications space. I’m know some are joining. I know some can’t make it.And there may be some surprises.

What matters most is that you’re invited too. Our program is intended to be a talk radio sort of show, which means you’ll be able to participate in the conversation too. And it will be recorded and made available for download later for those of you who are interested but can’t make it. We hope you’ll come join us.

Technorati Tags: unified communications, VoIP, talk radio, internet radio

Sheryl, my partner and fiance, called my attention to an interesting question this morning. It’s not the first time recently I’ve seen this question raised in conversationbut the question seems to take many forms. My friend Jon Arnold asked just a week ago Is VoIP Really Happening?

Here’s a snip from the Information week story that got me started on this thread.

Is Anyone Actually Implementing UC?
Posted by Eric Krapf, Jul 17, 2008 09:51 AM

A debate has been going on over at No Jitter about whether enterprises are actually adopting Unified Communications (see here, here, here, here, and here). I tend toward the skeptical end of any conversation about how widely a hot new technology is actually being adopted, but I do see a few signs that enterprises are at least paying attention and, where possible, looking for an opportunity to get their feet wet.

I was chatting with a consultant yesterday who told me that in his last three engagements, he’d put Unified Communications into the specifications as an option for the companies to include in their RFPs, and in all three cases, the companies jumped at it. The reason? Business differentiation, i.e., the hope that UC could provide a new competitive advantage. This, by the way, supports a theory that Chris Thompson of Cisco (NSDQ: CSCO) expounded to me at VoiceCon Orlando, that during difficult economic times, it’s actually easier for enterprises to make investments in “aspirational” technology than that which is “perspirational”.

To me, that says the UC message is getting through to enterprises. There’s no guarantee that every company will ultimately make the ROI, in whatever way the individual user company calculates that ROI. Maybe the bids will come back and the business case just won’t be there.

[Read the whole story here]

I’ve been following VoIP from the beginnng and unified communications since before the term came into popular use, and I feel like I have a distinctly different viewpoint.

We write and provide an eJournal series, Unified Communications
in Realtime, here at the Realtime Unified Communications Community that gets added to our Digital Library each month. It’s also distributed through other channels.

In the three-part series for next month we’ve been working on a set of brief articles about the intersection between unified communications and social media. As part of that, I tried to explain what unified communications is to set a foundation for the discussion. Here’s an excerpt from the soon-to-be-published piece -

Unified Communications - A Broad Definition
Unified communications is an interesting phrase that’s come into widespread use in the past year or two. Many companies have made efforts to brand it as their own, but it’s really a mindset tied to the journey of network convergence.

When we’re connected effectively, we’re more productive. Many working professionals are also more creative. With easy access to the tools we use to perform, our work is simpler. We’re able to focus on the work they need to do. We perform at a higher level. Just as companies focus on their core competencies, we as people perform better when we put all of our energy into our primary work objectives

One of the biggest drivers of this increased productivity in the past ten years has been what we call convergence. Convergence is another one of those vague buzzwords that means many things to many people, but there have been some clear and distinct phases

Phase 1 - Voice and Data Converge on the Wire
Convergence really took hold as a concept in the late 1990’s. IP became the most widely accepted transport technology for data traffic. Around the same time Voice over IP (VoIP) came on the scene as potentially disruptive technology for telecommunications.

Prior to this, most large companies often managed multiple networks - one for voice and another for data. In many cases, these networks were supported by different administrative and operations groups.

Integration of voice and data onto a single wired circuit infrastructure helped many companies reduce costs and improve the bottom line. The convergence of network technologies brought efficiency gains in many different business areas.

Phase 2 - IP Takes Center Stage as the Convergence Protocol
The convergence of the physical network onto a single circuit was the start of something that’s still in motion. Voice over IP (VoIP) provided yet another catalyst for change. It was ballyhooed as the end of telecommunications as we knew it and the signal that the legacy telephone companies would be out of business.

VoIP hasn’t matured in the way those wild prognostications foretold but it has become the stable foundation for telecommunications infrastructure. VoIP proved to be an enabling technology that has changed our way of thinking about voice. VoIP pointed the way to voice as simply another service of the network.

Phase 3 - Unified Communications
This convergence of voice and data networks has continued around the globe for the past several years. Today there are many networks that still haven’t fully converged. The process continues, and for many companies, the end of the road is nowhere in sight.

Convergence became the term used to describe the integration of data, voice and video onto one unified network. These network services used to all use separate networks. Today they share the resources of the corporate network and the Internet.

In the past two years, the word convergence has given way to the phrase unified communications. For most people, unified communications simply means the fully converged network, supporting data, voice and video.

That’s unified communications of today, but the journey doesn’t end there. There are mission-critical business applications that will integrate more tightly through Communications Enhanced business Processes (CEBP). These include:

• Enterprise Resource Management (ERP)
• Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
• Supply Chain Management (SCM)
• Sales Force Automation (SFA)
• Human Resource Management (HRM)

There will always be room to further integrate for efficiency. One key added area that’s seeing a lot of current improvement is integrating people with voice recognition technology. The user interface will always be a key component of how we enhance the way people use computerized resources.

In the Information Week piece, Krapf asks is anyone actually implementing UC? I’d rephrase it differently - Is there anyone who isn’t implementing UC?

Unified communications is a buzz phrase like convergence. It means different things to different people. In today’s business environment, VoIP is prevalent. Jon asked is it really happening, but I’m often hard pressed to find places where it isn’t happening.

Unified Communitations is everywhere. Think about it. Voice services, video services and voice mail have converged onto a single unified platform - an IP network and our computers or other devices. Without unified communications, you have no social media - no Facebook, no Twitter, no comprehensive integration. Without unified communications, the web as we know it is a pipe dream. It had email and static web pages.

Web 2.0, the phrase we’ve all heard a million times is unified communications. Without UC, there could have been no Web 2.0. Unified communications, like VoIP, isn’t a product you write a check for and buy. It’s not a single product you implement and move on. It’s not as complex as vendors make it sound.

Unified communications in a foundation mindset of a single, integrated platform for doing business. Simple.

Sheryl and I are in the process of augmenting our work at Stardust Global Ventures. Our GeekSpeekTV has been very popular, but with the hectic moving process we’ve had to endure lately, it’s been difficult to produce our regular shows. We’re now in the process of incorporating Stardust Radio into our portfolio.

Stardust Radio

Sheryl and Ken

Sheryl & Ken’s regular radio talk show.

We’ve been laying groundwork and perhaps this is a good question for a kickoff show as the topic of conversation. With that thought in mind, I just scheduled a one-hour call-in show on our TalkShoe program.

I’ll be extending an array of invitations to some industry watchers, people I mention here all the time. I’m sure some will join in and some won’t. But you’re invited too. Our program is intended to be a talk radio sort of show, which means you’ll be able to participate in the conversation too. And it will be recorded and made available for download later for those of you who are interested but can’t make it. We hope you’ll come join us.

Technorati Tags: unified communications, VoIP, talk radio, internet radio

I just clicked through a link passed on to me and found this article on Unified Communications. While Unified Communications has been around a while, it’s still being spoken about as a hot new technology.

This is an interesting perspective and one I’d like to give some thought to. Personally, I don’t see why all the hype. I know Ken, the other author here, has his own perspective. I’d really like to have a debate about it. Many of the people I know and call my colleagues are tentative if not completely unimpressed by the term and implementation process of Unified Communications.

Is Anyone Actually Implementing UC?

Posted by Eric Krapf, Jul 17, 2008 09:51 AM

A debate has been going on over at No Jitter about whether enterprises are actually adopting Unified Communications (see here, here, here, here, and here). I tend toward the skeptical end of any conversation about how widely a hot new technology is actually being adopted, but I do see a few signs that enterprises are at least paying attention and, where possible, looking for an opportunity to get their feet wet.
I hope you’ll read this article and come back with your own thoughts.

Technorati Tags: Unified Communications, Eric Krapf

This is a repost of a post from 2005 on Digital Common Sense. I stumbled across it today quite by accident, and it struck me as current. It fits nicely with something I’m doing right now, so I’m reposting.
—–
In a conversation today a colleague and I talked about this old analogy. It left me thinking about changing corporate culture and the impact of institutional memory, so I’m sharing it here again as a framework for thoughts.

Picture 5 monkeys placed in a cage. A new community is formed. From the ceiling of the cage hangs a bunch of bananas. A stepladder is placed under the bananas. As the first eager monkey rushes up the ladder, a firehose knocks him off and hoses down all the monekys. Shocked, they sit back and regroup. Later another monkey tries, with the same result. It make take repeated attempts by each monkey before they become conditioned (socialized really) to not climb the ladder.

At some point, the lesson has been learned by this closed culture and controls how they respond as a community. Then one monkey forgets and steps onto the ladder. But the firehose doesn’t have time to react. The other four monkeys grab the offender and beat him senseless. They’ve learned that in this society, you don’t climb the ladder.

Now the process of attrition and replacement in the society begins. One of the original monkeys is removed and a new monkey is added to the group. He spies the bananas and leaps onto the ladder, only to be dragged down and beaten by the rest of the group. After several attempts, the new monkey learns.

Another original monkey is replaced with a new monkey. And the same process follows. Then another and another and another. Soon we have a group of five monkeys who’ve never been soaked by the firehose, but won’t climb the ladder. This learned behavior was socialized into the group over time.

It no longer matters how many generations of monkeys follow. The new behavior is that a monkey climbing the ladder will be dragged off and beaten. None of the monkeys in the cage has ever been knocked off the ladder with a firehose. None have been soaked down. They don’t know what the consequence is because it’s been replaced by group behavior. They can’t remember being soaked. They don’t know why they do what they do. The accepted norm for this closed community is to beat anyone who tries to climb the ladder.

Isn’t that a lot like institutional memory? We don’t know why we do what we do. We do it this way because we’ve “always done it this way.” The real end consequence may no longer exist. It may not matter. It may have vanished. But we don’t climb that ladder in this cage buddy. It just isn’t done. We don’t operate that way here.

Today’s conversation led me to recount a seminar and book from several years ago (about 1990 or 91). Teaching the Elephant to Dance by Jim Belasco. That sent me on a quick Googleventure because I didn’t have my copy at hand.

“But, we’ve always done it that way,”

This is a warning sign, a symptom of impending disaster for any organization.

Shackled, like powerful elephants, to the past, organizations rob themselves of the ingenuity required to meet new competitive challenges and escape the “re” dimension trap of “re-engineering, re-organization and re-structuring that concentrate on short term fixes rather than long term solutions.

Elephant is a practical, hands-on guide for creating the right change in any organization, large or small, corporate or governmental, manufacturing or service based. Filled with illuminating case studies, it shows how to devise new corporate visions and strategies… how to overcome inertia .. and how to form labor-management partnerships. Clear, authoritative, practical and inspiring, Elephant provides a step-by-step guide for making the impossible happen.

One of the things Jim said in the small session he led that I attended was a simple tenet of business and change, but one that so often escapes managers.

If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you’ll continue getting the results you’ve been getting.

I was pleased to see a quote from Stephen Covey on Jim’s web page. Jim’s approach to changing corporate culture is one that’s stuck with me ever since. I still have his book. I still refer to it.

Why are the obvious lessons still so hard for some organizations to learn? Change is a fundamental principle in our universe. The rate of change varies widely, but change is everywhere. Permanence is an illusion.

I don’t have an answer, nor do I seek one. I do observe that those who embrace change have an easier time of life. Those who go out and court change…embrace change…drive change, have fun and enjoy. If you resist change, well, as the Borg would say — resistance is futile. Only when we become the agent of change do we have any control over the direction change takes. Isn’t it better to steer the course and set direction than to strive to hold a straight unchanging course. Isn’t progress like sailing, constantly tacking against the winds of change? And if you insist on ignoring the wind of change, don’t you deserve that “jibe ho” just as the booms swings around to knock you into the drink?

With a tip of the hat to Hugh MacLeod, I’m going to ramble a bit.

I’ve had a couple of conversations with friends recently that have really set me to thinking about the unified communications industry. It’s where I spend a lot of time and energy. Lately I’ve taken a bit of a dim view.

It’s an industry sector fraught with innovation badly done. By that, I mean there’s an array of technological genius that’s going nowhere at the speed of light. There’s an atmosphere of euphoric optimism that’s frightening as I see companies providing half-baked solutions with a hint of future value. The frightening part is that we’ve created a segment of the market that values a half-baked idea more than a sustainable business model and plan. There are far too many companies out there for the short run. Pirates who are in it for the short term gain of yammering about an idea without substance, then getting bought up by someone like Google or Microsoft.

Lately my bullshit detector just seems to be very sensitive. I think it’s been bothering me that life has been so crazy I haven’t had the time and energy to call bullshit on the purveyors. I sense a change ahead because there’s a lot of it around in the industry right now.

Sheryl and I spend a lot of time around the broad unified communications industry, but it really isn’t our center. We follow social media and how it impacts our lives, but that isn’t our center either.

I learned a lot from Sheryl talking as we covered 5000 miles on the road in the last month. She sees our world more clearly than eye in many ways. Through eyes with a clearer focus - a crisper vision.

She made me think a lot about what we do here at Stardust - where our real strengths are and the value we really bring. And that’s perhaps one reason we’ve been quiet lately. We’re forever in a state of permanent reinvention as we grow and evolve.

Our life has been crazy with the multiple moves and the travel we’ve had recently. We’re only just now getting settled into our home. Our office is set up. So is our studio for the most part. But recharging batteries that have been drained like ours requires a deep charge, and a weekend at home isn’t enough to completely recharge and come back swinging. But it helps.

We’re honing some ideas. I have some thoughts to share in response to her wonderful ideas that set my brain into high gear for weeks now. It’s time for us to refocus and share where we’re heading and what our priorities are, and the value we bring to you and others. So stand by, because we’re on the cusp of doing something pretty exciting and different.

And with another hat tip to Hugh, I’ll leave you to guessing for a while. But if you’re traveling at the speed of light, get somewhere. We’ll help you figure out where.